Is Dirt Cheap? : The Economic Costs of Failing to Meet Soil Health Requirements on Smallholder Farms
Agricultural productivity is hindered in smallholder farming systems due to several factors, including farmers’ inability to meet crop-specific soil requirements. This paper focuses on soil suitability for maize production and creates multidimensio...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC : World Bank
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099025206272226611/IDU0ee487ee70a84304c8c08b8a031ef5894a785 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37627 |
| Summary: | Agricultural productivity is hindered
in smallholder farming systems due to several factors,
including farmers’ inability to meet crop-specific soil
requirements. This paper focuses on soil suitability for
maize production and creates multidimensional soil
suitability profiles of smallholder maize plots in Uganda,
while quantifying forgone production due to cultivation on
less-than-suitable land and identifying groups of farmers
that are disproportionately impacted. The analysis leverages
the unique socioeconomic data from a subnational survey
conducted in Eastern Uganda, inclusive of plot-level,
objective measures of maize yields and soil attributes.
Stochastic frontier models of maize yields are estimated
within each soil suitability class to understand differences
in returns to inputs, technical efficiency, and potential
yield. Only 13 percent of farmers are cultivating soil that
is highly suitable for maize production, while the vast
majority are cultivating only moderately suitable plots.
Farmers cultivating highly suitable soil have the potential
to increase their observed yields by as much as 86 percent,
while those at the opposite end of the suitability
distribution (with marginally suitable land) operate closer
to the production frontier and can only increase yields by
up to 59 percent, given the current technology set. There is
heterogeneity in potential gains across the wealth
distribution, with poorer households facing more heavily
constrained potential. Assuming no change in technologies
and management practices used by Ugandan farmers, there are
limited economic gains tied to closing suitability
class-specific productivity gaps, or even at the extreme
reaching the average potential productivity levels observed
in the high suitability class. |
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